Skull Castle Entrance (Deathmatch)
|Items = }} Skull Castle Entrance is huge open battlefield in front of Dr. Wily's Skull Castle from Mega Man 2. It is based on the first stage of that castle, and features its famous music. Skull Castle Entrance has one of the largest collections of weaponry in the game, with 17 different pickups scattered about the scarred landscape. Although the map may appear to be relatively simple and dull at first, a little searching around the towering castle and surrounding structures will reveal some of the most powerful weapons in the game. Skilled use of the advanced weaponry here will always lead to victory. Besides boasting the largest open field in the game, Skull Castle Entrance has the highest "ceiling" in the game, which extends far past even the castle's highest ramparts. These conditions make the map ideal for Summoning large props and bosses. In fact, this is the only stage besides his original arena itself where Gamma can be spawned. Layout Skull Castle Entrance is nothing more than a huge field broken up by minor elevation changes and small barrels surrounding by four large bunker-like structures from the beginning of the original Mega Man 2 stage in front of a leering Skull Castle to the north. Metal Blade is found in the dead center of the map flanked by two W-Tanks to the west and east near the bunkers. A Party Ball hovers over this area as well. Magnet Missile is at the foot of the castle to the north while Silver Tomahawk is on the opposite side to the south. Yamato Spear lies between the two eastern bunkers and Atomic Fire occupies the corresponding position to the west. North of the northern bunkers, Air Shooter is found to the east and Gyro Attack to the west. There are plenty more arms hidden on and around the bunkers themselves! The southeast bunker holds Leaf Shield and hides another Gyro attack in its corner. The same is true for Rain Flush and Super Arm respectively on the southwest bunker. Mirror Buster and Treble Sentry rest on the ledges of the northeast bunker which hides two Item-1 pickups on either side of it. Power Stone and an E-Tank decorate the final bunker which hides Item-1 drops as well. Finally, the immense castle occupying the stage's northern edge holds still more weapons on its exterior walls. The outermost layer, accessible via ladder, holds Ballade Cracker on its far east edge and Oil Slider on the far west. The middle of the ledge is broken by a higher middle platform containing Dive Missile. Still higher outcrops needing Item-1 to climb support Gravity Hold, Arrow Buster, and the greatest prize of all:Time Stopper. Strategy The blatant lack of cover or indoor passages on this map will put your skills and experience with the stage's weapons to a true test. Air Shooter and Gyro Attack are useful for all around combat at short and mid range respectively. Yamato Spear and Rain Flush can be used on crowds to devastating effect while Ballade Cracker and Silver Tomahawk are perfect for hunting individual targets. While using Dive or Magnet Missile will score you a rare few frags, relying on them will keep you behind in the long run. Only bring them out when a weakened foe is fleeing. Finally, crowds can quickly overwhelm you from all sides on this map. Leaf Shield and Time Stopper are both good ways to escape unscathed. Consider retreating to the first layer of castle ramparts, which are usually forgotten; or the tops of the bunkers with Item-1, which are tough to see over. There's a weapon for every purpose on this stage, you've just got to use it! Trivia This map, along with Shadow Man's stage, has the second biggest amount of different weapons in a single map. The first one is Dark Man Castle. Modifications V2 to V3 Arrow Buster and Oil Slider replaced weapons identical to their counterparts on the other side of the map. V3A to V3B Added more small health capsules to the map. Category:Mega Man 2 Category:Stages Category:Fortress Stages